Plastic Pollution Overview

Plastic was invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt with the whole idea of making a cheap material that could replace the use of natural resources like stone, metal, and paper. During World War 2, plastic production increased by 300%, reaching 2 million tons by 1950. Seems pretty decent for a cheap, lightweight material, right? Not so much now since 368 billion tons are produced each year with the numbers continuing to rise.

Plastic is made with large molecules called polymer. Polymer can be found in nature, in places like our DNA and cellulose in plants, but it wasn't until 1907 that plastic was made of fully synthetic polymer. Created by Leo Baekeland, Bakelite was the first fully synthetic plastic that was flexible and could be mass produced. Many companies then started to invest in research to discover new polymers and their properties, of course we know the outcome of this discovery as we are experiencing the effects but even then people started to be concerned about the environment and how humans have negative effects on it; notably, Rachel Carson published a book titled Silent Spring which outlined how DDT "silenced" animals and children once the chemical insecticide made its way into the food chain.

Skipping ahead to now, plastic has not only become a tangible problem, but microplastics have started to have even more of a lasting effect on organisms as they can be found in all types of food sources and even urine causing cell death and allergic reactions! Microplastics falls off of plastic that has been under intense UV light for a while and are also made purposefully for beauty and hygiene products like facial cleanser and toothpaste. The more we comsume these chemicals, the more we are at risk for infertility and hormone-related cancers.